The Matakai Nexus
The Matakai Nexus is the anchorpoint of Matakai society, it contains logs of their hunts dating back to the Cataclysm. It is a demiplane that is reachable from the back of the giant Tortoise Turtexus (Turtle Nexus). It is where Yukiri Konine placed Flux to erect the Barrier, and it is where Sel was kept in stasis before being awoken by the Promise Crew. The Matakai Nexus features a main cylindrical chamber that is considered the Nexus itself. It contains the raised pedestal used for recording and displaying hunting logs, and stores the Githyanki Effigy, the first Effigy created after the Barrier was erected during the Cataclysm. The main chamber also features a several-story-tall rotunda - a circular spiraling incline displaying all of the Effigies from the Matakai's hunts. From the main chamber, there are four passageways: One passageway leads to the Demiplane's exit onto the Turtexus, one leads to a Gateway, one leads to an armory, and the last leads to the infirmary. Sel's tank was stored in the infirmary. Githyanki Effigy The party placed the Githyanki Effigy into the Nexus slot, and got this information. Text in bold is additional information gained after Harbiel repaired some of the Effigy's degradation. You place the hexagonal base of the effigy into the hexagonal slot, and the Nexus springs to life. The eyes of the Githyanki bust glow. Humming can be heard from the pedestal as the shape of the beam changes - the sphere moves upwards, the upper cone disappears, and the lower cone grows larger. The light within the lower cone clears, and shows five figures standing in a V formation. In the back are two Halflings, clearly twins, one sheathing his sword behind his shield and the other fiddling a coin between his fingers. Closer to the front, there is a Dwarf leaning on a hefty crossbow. Closer still is a woman whose hair falls and bobs like flows of water; her grip is tight on her trident, but her eyes are fixed tighter on the frontmost figure. The frontmost figure wears a long black coat, unbuttoned revealing a bloodstained shirt beneath. The coat’s hood hides the top of her hair while a black half-mask obscures her face. With one hand pulling at the hood and the other the mask, in one motion the weaves of these veils disappear, and in their place is an azure crown with a half-mask that descends from it, covering the top half of her face. Everyone in this group is tense. Eyes dart from person to person, up to the frontmost figure, then to each other. There is a rumbling in this projection from an untold source, and it is clearly what has the group shaken. The frontmost figure, their leader, clearly, removes the headpiece with trembling hands and places it upwards, somewhere out of sight of the projection. She hold her hands there for a second, and the trembling stops. Their leader lets go of the crown, she withdraws her hands, and the group lets out a collective sigh of relief. “It’s over? Is that it?” Asks the trident-wielding woman. “The barrier is up. Raghavendra was right. It’s over for now.” “I am Yukiri Konine; Spymaster of the Nation of Vesper; Leader of the Matakai; Oathsworn to Flux, the Beguiler Crown. It has been six months since the Kandorian Emperor Seda Mazrin entered the Vesperi Capital City of Therenon with his conquering armies .. and released a living blight upon our world. I will recount these events to the best of my ability -” *Sel faints*. “Sel is feeling unwell, a possible side-effect of the barrier given that she’s Genasi '''from the Elemental Plane of Water.'" *static* “I had heard rumors of the Emperor’s Eldritch might, that he could clear battlefields single-handedly" *static* "Once he conquered the rest of the continent, he could focus all of his attention on us."'' “The blight turned people to ash in an instant. Buildings that reached up to the sky were reduced to rubble in seconds" *static* “We fled Therenon with the Vestige of Bahamut and our respective Oaths. Kaldani with Aegis; Lucas with Claev; Tazlasar with Sibyl; and myself with Flux" *static*" “We were being hunted by a new kind of enemy - they called themselves Githyanki" *static* “We sought out the Master Artificer Raghavendra *static* the Vestige of Bahamut, '''a symbol of our nation's founding, a reminder of the Dragon who became a God' *static* we took our Oaths to the four corners of the world. Kaldani took Aegis to Minch's Tomb, as was agreed. Lucas will likely continue his one-man war against the Gith. Tazlesar has remained secretive as to where he plans to take Sibyl. *static* and we erected a barrier. It would bind this Living Blight to our world, the Material Plane, but make it powerless to harm us. It’s a brilliant solution, but I can already tell it’s having unintended consequences. Sel isn’t waking up. I fear the barrier has cut off her connection to the Elemental Plane of Water, and as a result, her life is draining. We’ve managed to keep her suspended, pardon the pun, in stasis, until we can figure out how to defeat the Living Blight. This is not a permanent solution. It cannot be a permanent solution. If the barrier is kept in tact for too long, this world will die a slow, suffocating death. May you always be hidden from your enemies.”''